Chris Desser

Chris Desser, aka Christina Desser, is a lawyer currently on the board of the David Brower Center, the Rockwood Leadership Program and the Marin Media Institute.

Christian Desser has a long history as a philanthropist and liberal activist in the San Francisco Bay area. She is a fellow at the Tomales Bay Institute, co-founder of Women's Voices, Women Vote, co-founder and Vice President for Marketing and Social Research of Muir Investment Trust. She has previously served on board including the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the Constellation Fund of the Tides Foundation, Ploughshares Fund, Rainforest Action Network, the Pacific Institute and the Pesticide Action Network. Chris was the director of the Funder's Working Group on New Technology. Chris has served on the boards of WDN,  Patagonia, and  Mother Jones Magazine.

Public Agencies
Chris served on the City and County of San Francisco Commission on the Environment in 2006. As a member of the commission she dealt occasionally with the toxic sewage sludge (aka biosolids) disposal issue. She also served on the California Coastal Commission.

Chez Sludge
Chris Desser is attorney for Francesca Vietor and in that capacity is deeply involved in the "Chez Sludge" controversy. Vietor threatened the (UK) Guardian with libel on April 1, 2010, and cc: her attorney Desser. The Food Rights Network released a major investigative report on July 9, 2010 titled: Chez Sludge: How the Sewage Sludge Industry Bedded Alice Waters. It examines the conflicts of interest and collusion between the Chez Panisse Foundation and the SFPUC based on an extensive open records investigation of the SFPUC internal files. (To view the internal documents see: SFPUC Sludge Controversy Timeline.)

Threatening the (UK) Guardian with Libel for Reporting on Vietor's Conflicts of Interest

 * April 1, 2010': Suzanne Goldenberg of the UK's Guardian'' newspaper reports on the controversy.


 * April 1, 2010: Francesca Vietor emails Suzanne Goldenberg, the author of the UK Guardian article above.  The subject line of Vietor's email reads "You have libeled me." The email is copied to her friend and who she calls "my attorney" Christina Desser.  The email reads in part, "I was unaware of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's program until I was contacted by John Stauber on March 4, 2010, after which I took immediate steps to have the program suspended and additional testing undertaken.  This statement is false, as this Timeline clearly documents.   Vietor writes, "I hereby demand that the Guardian publish an immediate retraction and correction of the false and libelous statement contained in your article." Vietor Letter to the Guardian Saying in Subject "You Have Libeled Me" and Sent to PUC PDF


 * The Guardian stands by its reporting and the following week places this statement in bold on the Guardian website: "This article is the subject of a legal complaint made by Francesca Vietor."


 * April 1, 2010: A search of the CA Bar Association website reveals that the California law license of Vietor's attorney, Chris Desser is "inactive" and so cannot legally be held out or act as her attorney.


 * July 12, 2010: Food Rights Network files a letter of complaint with the California Bar Association asking them to investigate Desser's apparent practicing of law with an expired license.